so i have a huge shortage of enclosures at the moment.. i have a golden gecko, veiled chameleon, black and white argentine tegu, bearded dragon, and i think thats pretty much it with herps.. we have the chameleon in a quite large explorarium (from exo terra) and i have my golden gecko in a 40G tank. i want to put my tegu in the 40G, but considering he ate a house gecko yesterday lol, i was wondering if i could put the gecko in with the chameleon since the environment for the two species should be pretty similar? the beardie is crippled and has to be alone, not to mention a completely different kind of environment
veiled chameleon and golden gecko cohabitation?
- Thread starter billyb
- Start date
How did Your tegu end up eating you House gecko?
And Honestly I don't think it's a good Idea to mix any species with another species, no mater how similar their care is.
Also How big is You Tegu?
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2007
- Messages
- 106
You could house the gecko in a larger Kritter Keeper...pretty cheap at most chain pet stores, or similar type housing. A much better and safer alternative to housing them together.
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2007
- Messages
- 331
Besides the fact that the veiled chameleon is such a territorial and uptight character that the presence of another species (hell even his own species) is likely to do long term but subtle harm, I generally recommend against mixing species.
Let me give you an example of how easily you can go wrong. If I was setting up an environment for a bearded dragon, it would be nearly identical to one for an ornate uromastyx. The Uro is not likely to give the dragon a hard time, nor put up with much intimidation from the beardie. Their diets are nearly identical. So, you should be able to keep them together, right?
Nope, not safe. Even captive born beardies usually carry a species of coccidia that is even named after them, Coccidia amphibularis. It rarely causes any symptoms in the beardies and they can live with and carry it their whole life without ill effects. Now you introduce the Uro that has no natural immunity built up to the coccidia and it spread like wildfire throughout the digestive system of the Uro, eventually overtaking it's immune system and killing it. By that time the coccidia population in the cage may have grown to levels high enough to potentially overwhelm the defenses of the original carrier and kills the beardie for good measure.
I can give you many other examples such as IBD getting passed between Boas and Pythons, etc. It is for this reason that I am VERY conservative about mixing species!
Let me give you an example of how easily you can go wrong. If I was setting up an environment for a bearded dragon, it would be nearly identical to one for an ornate uromastyx. The Uro is not likely to give the dragon a hard time, nor put up with much intimidation from the beardie. Their diets are nearly identical. So, you should be able to keep them together, right?
Nope, not safe. Even captive born beardies usually carry a species of coccidia that is even named after them, Coccidia amphibularis. It rarely causes any symptoms in the beardies and they can live with and carry it their whole life without ill effects. Now you introduce the Uro that has no natural immunity built up to the coccidia and it spread like wildfire throughout the digestive system of the Uro, eventually overtaking it's immune system and killing it. By that time the coccidia population in the cage may have grown to levels high enough to potentially overwhelm the defenses of the original carrier and kills the beardie for good measure.
I can give you many other examples such as IBD getting passed between Boas and Pythons, etc. It is for this reason that I am VERY conservative about mixing species!
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2007
- Messages
- 182
Absolutely not!
Full grown male veileds have no trouble eating a hummingbird (how big is your gecko?)
Not to mention the stress (both ways)
Super bad idea.
-Brad
Full grown male veileds have no trouble eating a hummingbird (how big is your gecko?)
Not to mention the stress (both ways)
Super bad idea.
-Brad